We’re a month into the New Year and the new decade. Even if we’re heading out of the recession, we are certainly not out of the turbulence. And since we’ll be unable to predict when and where things are going – uncertainty is reigning – we’ll have to get really good at adapting, and adapting quickly.
Jeff Immelt has said that beyond this recession we’ll be in the “reset” economy. A big question for us here at Pinstripe and for our clients is “how do we break away from the ‘sea of sameness’ and excel under a new and ever changing set of conditions? How do we differentiate? How do we create distance between ourselves and our competitors in the market for talent and in the markets we serve?”
Well here’s something to consider … the markets for talent are viewed as mature markets and over time it becomes harder and harder to differentiate. When that happens, we encounter something called the “Good Enough Line.” Have you ever heard the saying “Too often ‘good’ is the enemy of the ‘best’”? That’s exactly what happens … “good enough” becomes just that, and incremental value gets hard to “sell”. So how do we break through the “Good Enough Line”? We have to get and stay laser focused on bringing recognizable and relevant value to candidates in a way that matters to them. If we don’t, we won’t break through that line. Think of it as a glass ceiling – we can see above it, but can’t get through. (more…)
Continuing the theme of my 
The current economic turbulence has been as much an opportunity for redefinition as it has been a challenge. I really believe that the winning equation is one that maximizes the power of collaboration and adaptation. We’ve been able to adopt new models for partnership to weather variances in economic conditions, and that’s part of what the value proposition of outsourcing is about. RPO empowers moving fixed costs to variable costs; flexibility and agility in HR service delivery models and costs; and acceleration of change. 
Early in the book, Hugh asserts that “Great ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That’s why great ideas are initially resisted.” What’s your big idea? How have you been an entrepreneur or intrapreneur? How have you “ignored everybody” or at least ignored conventional wisdom? Share your story with me in the comments section of this post and I’ll share Hugh’s book with you!
